Don't Bite The Hand That Feeds You
by BaconSizzle
Summary: It's been a year since Randall was banished and Boo was returned home. Living in the wild has lead to Randall eventually being captured by the humans and forced into an undignified side show act. At the same time Boo visits relatives and meets with the lizard. Randall wants nothing to do with her, but in this uncertain world, a child might be the only thing that gives him hope. R
1. Chapter 1

(_I adore Randall and little Boo, and with inspiration from many fics and my friend, I've decided to try this idea out. This fic more or less, is going to be a large prologue by itself, and following directly after the events of this, is going to be the main story. This isn't really a redemption fic, but more or less a deeper insight on Randall's character and Boo's as well. It's going to be relatively short, only about three or four chapters. Enjoy~!)_

* * *

Maria stood there on the sagging porch to the aged, muddy trailer. In one hand she held a large, leather suitcase stuffed to the brim with toys and clothes, and in the other arm she was attempting to restrain her excited three year old daughter as the little ball of energy took in all the new sights.

To Maria, the trailer, mud, and marshy wetlands was nothing short of revolting, but to a three year old such as Boo, it was merely a whole new, large world for her to explore, dirty or not.

"Edith, thank you so much for agreeing to take Mary—ah, Boo for me," Maria professed in gratitude. It was so hard finding a last minute babysitter for her little girl, but when her sister fell suddenly ill and her husband was away at work, this was her only option.

The red haired woman grinned, a yellow tooth poking out from under her lip. "Ain't no need to be thanking me, it's no trouble and we just adore the little bunion!" she crooned, reaching for the little toddler. Boo wrinkled her nose at the scent of pickles and onions on the southern woman's breath.

Maria flashed her daughter a wayward "hang in there kiddo" look, and gave her a good-bye kiss, forcing herself to ignore the all-too common, instant separation anxiety as Boo started to cry from in her aunt's arms.

"Now, now, no tears, little lady!" the woman chirped, nuzzling her large nose against the smaller one. "Yer mama's gonna be back soon, and for now, you get to hang with yer fun aunt and uncle and cousin!" She swerved toward the back deck where her son was, and gleefully called, "Bobby, tell yer father the baby's here!"

* * *

Banishment. In the monster world, it meant desolation, miles from any source of civilization and the closets they would possess. No way back. The monster was doomed to live within the human world for the rest of his days, without any form of escape. Unable to return home. Lonely. Never to meet another living, intelligent creature again.

But to Randall Boggs, banishment was met with a shovel to the face.

It had been a hell of a year out in the foreboding wilderness. Food had been scarce to come by, and in the swamp, there was only so much of the kind he could stomach. Berries had been poisonous (he found that out after an unpleasant bout of diarrhea and vomiting when he hastily swallowed several on only his second day here), and any other source of food had to be beaten a few times to kill it before he could eat it.

He shuddered at the memory. There was no more microwavable meals (where he didn't have to worry about the contents in them), no more frothy lattes, and not even some good old, healthy fruit. It had been difficult adapting; he looked like a mutated version of the human world's alligator, but he certainly didn't have the same instincts or diet they did (although he would admit, the idea of snapping off the limbs of the ones that beat him was an enjoyable idea).

For a year his diet had constantly alternated between different bugs (disgusting), to certain birds, and any rare moment he was able to find non-poisonous berries. Blending in was easy enough given how easily he could change his skin color and fade into his surroundings. It made catching food a simple task as well—once he was able to get over his squeamishness, that is.

Then the humans found him. He remembered scrambling away against thick bushes as the loud humans pursued him, slithering through mud- too scared to think about camouflage.

_That ended great_, he thought to himself. He was so tired...

Light suddenly poured in, blinding the lizard even through the blindfold. He heard as what appeared to be a door pulled up with a loud screeching sound, and suddenly, there were two voices.

"Well by golly, I didn't think it was really true!" a thick southern voice spoke in awe. The loud, rather obnoxious tone made Randall's head pound all the more. The figures began talking back and forth.

"Sure is—told ya, I was there while the thing was caught. Funny lookin' critter, ain't he?"

"What is he?"

"Don't know—some sort 'a gator. The boss thinks 'e just got mutated somehow. Probably all the beer cans ya throw away in the swamp!"

Raucous laughter filled the air, and suddenly the world suddenly shifted, giving a fierce jerk that sent the reptile rolling on his side. A hiss escaped as he slammed into cold, thick bars, fingers digging into the rotten wood of the floor to try to urge his body back into the meager inches of space he had on the other side of the cage. It was a small wriggle of his limbs at most. It was too dark, the blindfold over his eyes tight and itchy against his scales. Jaunty music played in the background as the wheels rolled to a stop, muddled and distorted and horrible to the lizard.

_Who knew that humans had circuses?_ was his last thought before his head thudded against the floor, sending him back into unconsciousness.

* * *

Dressed in her cousin's old, tattered nightshirt that nearly reached her ankles, a young three year old girl carefully slid shut the doors to her uncle's trailer. She had learned a year ago that slamming doors (something young children so carelessly did) was never the best idea. It only alerted the adults that their little one was trying to skitter away, and it meant no freedom for her.

So Boo had learned how to close doors carefully, to keep from waking her aunt and uncle (as if anything could wake them anyway once they drank enough from their giant, brown bottles).

She tiptoed out into the cooler evening air, smiling at finally being on her own without pesky grownups near by to tell her where to go and where not to go.

The day hadn't been very fun from her. Her aunt and cousin talked so loudly, it was like they assumed she couldn't hear! And they both smelled, and not the nice kind of flower scents her mommy had. They served strange food too; everything was dug out of a can, even the meat. The worst part for her was they had no chocolate milk. They gave her _tomato_ juice instead!

She scowled at the remembrance and blew a distasteful raspberry into the air as she climbed down the sagging porch and into the grass.

Once a safe distance from the trailer, she went from tiptoeing to a happy skip, her tiny feet padding against the grass, and soon the gravel, as she crossed from the trailer's property to a lot across from it.

"La-la-la-la-la!" she sang happily, hopping from one foot to the other as she neared a large mass she had no idea was the back of a cage. "La-la-la-la-flowers! Kitty! La-la-la!"

Randall stirred against the side of the cage, grumbling as he heard a sound. The night had began to fall, and the air was humid and hot. Not bad for a reptilian fellow like himself, but that was far from a perk in his book.

He finally managed to get that damn blindfold off, shifting eyes that fluttered, heavy with the drugs in his system as they roved the landscape for signs of... he wasn't sure. Where was he? From the sound of all of the voices and strange chirps and that wretched music that faded when the night came, it wasn't in the middle of nowhere. Beady eyes narrowed further, looking around. Trees. Lots of trees. Bushes.

Maybe it _was_ in the middle of nowhere.

"Hmph," he huffed out, groggily rising to a near-crouch, limbs scuffling uselessly in the air as he tried to keep his balance. The tranquilizers were wearing off, thankfully. His claw tapped the side of the bar, and Randall winced at the resulting ping. Tough stuff. His head tilted to observe. Too narrow for him to squeeze through-

Suddenly, Randall's mind finally registered the loud, constant noises that rang behind him, growing steadily closer to his cage.

The reptile froze, fear and instinct making his camouflage react, scales shaping to the environment, shimmering in the air. He grunted as his body shifted between sight and invisibility, the drugs making him unable to hide. The sound was getting closer!

The purple monster twitched, as violent a move as he could make as he turned to see what the threat was...

And he found himself staring, face to face with the little girl who caused all of this mess.

Dark eyes narrowed. Sharp teeth bared in the dim light.

Boo heard something give an unholy hiss, and she instantly froze from where she was pattering along.

"_You..._"

The hiss was low and guttural, his frills rattling and flaring in reaction to seeing that horrible, bug-eyed THING once again.

It was dark and difficult to see; moonlight shone down on her, and glinted off the silver bars of the cage. She tilted her head at it. Was there a dog inside? Boo had only seen a dog a few times; her cousin's beagle, Monty. She remembered the furry pup peeing on the floor, and he was instantly ushered into a cage like this, only much smaller.

_Big doggy?_ she wondered, trying to peek into the bars of the cage. She didn't know dogs could grow this big. It was only when she lightly wrapped her tiny hands around the bars did she see what was in the cage.

Sharp teeth, malicious emerald eyes glaring dangerously at her, in narrow little slits as the beast gave a low, deadly snarl.

It was _him!_ It was the mean lizard that tried to hurt her, and her friend Kitty! It had been a year, but the incident was forever embedded into her memories.

To her parents, the way she constantly sat in front of her closet for the first few months had been a cause of concern. She'd been taken to many doctors, but none had found anything wrong with her. They simply told them that it was normal for children at this age to make up imaginary friends, especially when they had so little real ones to begin with. She had wanted to hit the doctor and her parents for saying that Kitty wasn't real, but there was nothing she could do to convince them.

Her parents had been told to _humor_ the notion of her 'imaginary friend', and started referring to her as 'Boo' (as she so adamantly wanted to be named). That at least had been a small victory. She liked Boo more than Mary anyway.

The three year old gasped softly and backed up as if the bars were on fire. Her hands flew to her mouth, wide, frightened eyes peering at the creature before her...and what he had been reduced to.

Fear turned to confusion at the network of scars and marks on him. A few of them were dripping and looked awfully sore. 'Blued', she remembered her mother calling the drippy red stuff. She knew that blued hurt terribly, and he must be in pain. "Boo boos..." she murmured, but still kept quite a distance from the cage.

Randall stiffened further at hearing the thing talk, the voice making his head ache.

"Get outta here!" he snapped at the girl, though his throat was dry and the words cracked and sounded much weaker and frail than he ever meant them to. His tail gained a spark of energy from his anger, thrashing against the bars near her to frighten her away, the sound clanging and loud. "_Get away!" _

She yelped and stumbled back abruptly, sprawling onto her back in front of the cage. She scooted rapidly backwards on her rear, wincing as it chafed her skin as the night gown-t-shirt rode up past her back.

She climbed to her feet, trembling, and yet not moving from the spot she was standing in. The creature, the mean violet lizard continued to snarl at her, his fangs bared in rage and hate. He was bleeding, from the face even. Many parts of his multi-limbed body was either scarred or full of scabs. She glanced down at her elbow, where she remembered getting a fairly large boo boo on the driveway back home. It still had a scar, but it wasn't as big as his were.

"Boo-boo..." she repeated, looking with slight pity now more than anything, amidst the fear and the way she kept trembling How did he get so many? There weren't many places to fall in that cage. "Cage," she said, pointing to the bars, as if she was showing how many words she could say. "You got boo-boo?"

Randall's jowls curled into an even deeper snarl. Why didn't it just go away?!

"Yeah! Lots of boo-boos!" he mocked, tail slamming even harder into the bars, as if trying to swipe that look of pity off the child's face. "Lots and _lots!_ Not from the cage!" Another slam against the bars, the ringing clashing in the air. "From you! All from you!" Another slam, and the pain was beginning to thrum in his tail as the drugs wore off, but he continued, growling with every thrash. "_YOUR fault!_"

Boo whimpered and continued to back up in fear, tears starting to brim in her eyes. He was scaring her, like he always did. She felt angry with herself for this. She wasn't supposed to be afraid of him anymore, but somehow, even as he lay there full of boo boos and in pain, he was still frightening.

Being three, she hardly understand everything he was saying, only managing to fathom a few things: 'your fault', 'boo-boos'...

Her lower lip trembled, tears continuing to spill in guilt. She didn't do this. She didn't mean to do this. She shuffled on her feet and looked down at a band-aid on her left knee. Her mother had put it on a week ago when she got a splinter. It didn't hurt anymore, so she tugged it off with a whimper, and offered the used, dirty thing to him.

"Want band-aid?"

Randall stared at the grimy, crumbled thing in her hand with revulsion, leaning back against the bars for more distance. She actually thought that he wanted something that had been on her disgusting, dirty human skin?!

"Go away," he murmured one last time, curling against the cage and settling his head in the middle, facing away from her.

And she did, or so it seemed. Everything fell silent save for the patter of her feet as she hurried off. So Randall thought and hoped it was the end of it.

But as fate and fortune was not on his side today, it was not to be.

She was back in only ten minutes, and this time, she had a bunch of things clumsily carried in her oversized shirt. One of them was a piece of bread, which she pushed through the bars. The other, a sweet smelling, fluffy morsel; a cupcake. "Hungry?" she asked quietly.

The monster's head rose slightly as he watched the girl push food towards him, the scent of bread and sweetness filling the cage. His jowls tightened, glaring at the wide eyes that watched him curiously. The bread and cupcake were ignored, tail shoving them to the other side of the bars. They splattered against it.

"What part of 'go away' do you not get?" he hissed, frills flaring again in irritation. "Beat it, shrimp!"

The girl blinked at him, undaunted by his poor attempts to shoo her away. She gazed with a frown at the splattered food. She babbled at him in a stern tone, as if trying to scold him. Randall merely rolled his tired eyes and stayed at the back of the cage.

Boo peered in through the bars at the silent creature, and looked over at a plate and bowl in the corner. The plate had a large, rather old slice of meat slabbed on it, and dripping onto the floor. It didn't look very clean, it wasn't like the yummy chicken and steak her Daddy made for her back home. It looked all...rotted.

Randall could tell by the squeaky breaths through the sliver of his bars that she was still there. He growled to himself, but decided the best tactic to get the little vermin to leave would be to just ignore her. Although an expert on how to traumatize them and their vulnerability, he didn't know much else about children, but figured if he stayed stiff as a board she'd eventually give up.

Exhaustion was heavy on him, the tranquilizers still lingering in his system and making sleep impossible to ignore. He was just about to drift off when he felt it: a soft, warm little touch by a curious little hand, right on the base of his tail.

Immediately, he froze rigid, and reared up just as fast, lunging at the bars with all the strength his exhausted body could muster, snapping at the air were her hand was as a warning.

This time the toddler did finally give a satisfying scream and jumped backward as the monster savagely clung to the bars, warding her off with a dangerous snarl. Boo inhaled a terrified, hiccuped sob and took off running as fast as chubby legs could carry her, until she was out of sight.

Sneering, the lizard slowly slid back down onto his belly into the darkness, and hoped that with the little rat gone, he'd finally get some sleep. And yet even as he slowly slipped into unconsciousness, a part of his brain was awake and rightfully assuming this wasn't the last he'd see of the shrimp.


	2. Chapter 2

(_Well the final part is next! But fear not, as I've said, this entire thing is just a prologue really. Next comes "The Winds Of Change", the main fic that immediately follows the ending of this story. Thanks for the reviews and follows guys, I hope you enjoy the main fic just as much!_

_Also, just to note, I realize these southern characters are probably greatly exaggerated (I mean, I HAVE Southern friends so I'd know), but that is the point, they're supposed to be exaggerated versions of the 'hillbilly' stereotype. They aren't meant to offend, just to be funny (and mess up poor Boo as much as any caretakers can.)_

* * *

"Bobby! What'd Ah tell ya about just leavin' Boo alone? Ah told ya ta' watch the baby!" an angry Edith bellowed as she stormed into the house, holding a sobbing Boo in her arms.

Slumped against the couch watching TV like a regular coach potato, Bobby snorted. "Ah was, Ma. She was right next ta' me a half hour ago."

Edith growled in exasperation, and walked to the kitchen, too tired to deal with her wayward offspring. She sat Boo on the counter and gently crooned at her, "Aw hun, did ya get a cut out there in those bushes? Bobby should'a been watchin' ya better." She gave the little girl's hand a kiss, and picked up one of the brown bottles Boo always saw her drink.

"Now this'll sting for a moment, but it'll clean that cut right out!" Holding the toddler's hand, she poured on a trickle of whiskey. Boo cried out in pain, but her sobs calmed down when her aunt placed a kitty band-aid on the cut and gave it a kiss.

"That there's whiskey, alcohol—it'll disinfect that wound no problem." She set the toddler down. "Now you run along and play; yer uncle is runnin' ya a nice bath."

Still shaking her little hand from the sting, Boo wandered back into the living room and sat in front of her crayons and paper, picking them up to resume the picture she was drawing earlier.

"Ya know, Ah don't get what's so fascinating about this _Kitty_ anyway," Bobby remarked, as he quite rudely pulled Boo's picture out from under her. She cried out in anger and tried yanking it back, but he held it at a length she couldn't reach it.

"It's all ya ever seem ta' draw, and that green blobby thing as well!" He tilted the picture, trying to make sense of what the childish scrawls were. Boo screamed in rage, and Edith finally came to her rescue.

"Now y'all stop it right now Bobby, or I'll make ya git out there and cut a switch!" Edith snapped, pulling away Boo's drawing from her son and handing it back to her. The three year old clutched it protectively, and glared venomously at her cousin. "Don't be tormentin' yer cousin!"

"Ah wasn't bein' _mean_, Ma," the teenager protested, "Ah was just pokin' some fun at her weird cat friend!"

Edith clicked her tongue and leaned over the toddler's shoulder to look at the drawing. "There ain't nothin' wrong with her havin' an imaginary friend at her age. And I reckon you did—Harry Harry yer pet Jackal. Ya didn't get rid of him until you were nearly eight!" She smirked as her son blushed.

"Fine, fine," Bobby griped, "but what about her weird fascination ta' be called 'Boo?' Ah mean, she was named after aunt Marry Jane, she should be grateful fer her name!"

"Now as Ah recall, a certain son of mine had a certain funny name he wanted ta' be called..." She left that sentence open ended, giving a smirk that said she'd gladly say out loud what the name was if he didn't let up on his cousin.

Bobby flushed, his freckled cheeks turning an angry pink. He let up on the merciless teasing, knowing his mother would most likely come out with something more humiliating from his childhood if he didn't. "Hey, what's that she's drawin' now?"

Edith peered over the little girl's shoulder again, squinting hazel eyes in confusion at what looked like a purple sausage...with eyes, and several legs. It was in a large brown box, with bars. Rubbing her chin for a moment, she snapped her fingers in realization. "Ah reckon that's that purple gator we found a year ago. Apparently some folk captured it again and it's supposed to be at the circus lot—just a couple houses away. Now if Ah knew it was such a rare species, Ah would'a captured it mahself!"

Bobby slowly nodded his head, but turned to look at his mother in confusion. "But wait, we've never taken 'er there. How does she know about the gator?"

Both mother and son exchanged looks of absolute puzzlement, while unbeknownst to them, Boo merely gave a little smile as she kept drawing.

* * *

Being one of the company's top scarers, Randall was accustomed to admiration and large crowds swooning over his abilities and talents. Of course, he bitterly recalled, his crowd paled in comparison to that polka-dotted brute, but he always took what he could get (and always planned to take even more).

The crowds that swarmed his _cage_ today were certainly not ones he was used to. People came to admire him, sure, but not in the way he ever would have wanted, especially by such disgusting creatures. Prying eyes stared at his encased form, marveled at his scales. He was met with such mixed reactions of disgust and awe, and he hated it all. This was _never_ the popularity he wanted.

And despite the "do not touch the animal" sign plastered across the bars, several low-life southern inbreeds attempted to touch him—one petulant boy with a stick of all things.

He wouldn't tolerate that. Up until then he had been silent, fearing if he lashed out the humans would attempt to sedate him, or worse, declare him a menace and kill him, but _no one_ touched him. He snapped at the boy and resisted the urge to spit out as many curses as he could. If these humans knew he could talk there was no telling what scientific procedures he would endure.

His violent backlash finally frightened the humans away, and his trainers decided he had enough for the day, and rolled the cage back to its spot. He was given another slab of old meat and a dish of murky water and left there in the dark, to nurse his ruptured wounds. The many cuts he had gotten in the wild were quickly becoming infected.

Randall backed up to the corner of his cage and glared miserably at his food. His stomach was hollow and aching, refusing to go anywhere near that maggot-infested thing. He hadn't eaten in almost three days and he could feel his stomach shrinking.

He suddenly found himself feeling more homesick than he ever had before, missing the simple things he took for granted. His arm chair he always slumped into after a long day at work, a simple microwavable pizza, and more than _anything_, having privacy. He was out in an open lot, in a small cage and practically a window that everyone could look into. And every time he was brought in front of the humans he was given a light sedative, which, he found, hindered his camouflaging abilities. He couldn't even disappear; not only survival, that was practically his security blanket.

_Even the Himalayas is looking pretty good right now. _At least there he wasn't likely to find much civilization. And he would be able to find some snow to cool down the burning cuts.

His face fell down onto the stone floor, at least wanting to enjoy the silence and darkness as long as he could.

"Lizzy..."

Randall tensed instantly at the familiar voice, and muffled a groan into his arms. _Today just can't get any worse._ "The name is _not_ Lizzy, Shrimp," he snapped nastily at the three year old by his cage. Although he supposed he should at least be grateful it was nowhere _near _as undignified as 'Kitty.'

Boo tilted her head at him, and the monster turned to see she had several more things hidden in her t-shirt. His stomach lunged hungrily at the sight of it all, but he'd be damned if he was going to take any food from a human, let alone _her._

" Lizzy hungry?" Boo asked, holding out a wedge of cheese. Randall ignored her and tried to curl his tail over his nostrils to keep the scent from entering.

"No," he snapped, his voice terribly strained and unconvincing. "I'm not hungry, beat it!"

She stood there, obviously adamant on staying. Just how lacking was her guardian's supervision, anyway? He wondered. _All these humans are such idiots._

Of course he could never be so lucky as to get her to listen, and Boo simply plopped onto her rear in the grass. Randall growled and finally lost it with her.

"What do you want with me?!" he snapped, rearing up onto his unsteady legs. "Isn't it bad enough you've ruined my life? Are you just not going to be satisfied until you make sure I suffer every minute of the rest of my days? _What. Do. You. WANT?"_

Blank, chocolate eyes stared back, unfazed by the yelling and low snarls coming from the reptile's throat.

He had been made into a spectacle all day, and his wounds burned like fire. The least the brat could do was give him some sort of respite and just go aw-

"Arrgh! What are you DOING?!" Randall shrieked as he suddenly felt a cool splash, coupled by a vicious sting on his tail. His teeth gnashed together in rage, bared against the pain. "What is that stuff?"

The answer he got from her would beat any quote from a three year old's mouth for generations to come. "Whiskey!"

_"What?"_

_"_Whiskey! Dis-afect!_"_

The sting abruptly went away, replaced with an almost comforting warmth. He glanced down at his tail and found a fresh band-aid...with kittens on it, on the worst and most infected of his wounds. Boo stood there, holding a bottle of alcohol in her hand (which _really_ led him to question just how irresponsible her caretakers were).

The pain he had felt all day from the infection was nothing more than a dull ache, and the burning had been soothed. Slowly, he looked back up at the girl. She smiled at him, and he squinted in suspicion and confusion.

She inched towards him still holding the bottle of alcohol. She reached for his leg, where another particularly painful gash was. He hissed in warning and held it away from her protectively, eyes narrowed into slits.

Boo kept standing there holding the bottle and the band-aids, and looking expectantly at the leg.

Randall kept up the growl, but it drowned out when he realized this was probably the extent of any medical attention he might get in captivity. These humans were so neglectful, they never bothered to check on his injuries or cuts. They never realized he was in so much pain. And at the notion that he could get blood poisoning if this was left untreated, he hesitantly stuck his leg out of the bars.

Boo smiled and dripped on more of the whiskey, as the reptile in the cage spouted out funny words she had never heard before. Randall yanked on his frills in agony, letting out a few embarrassing whimpers as his wounds were cleaned out. He felt her stick on several of the kitten band-aids, and give his leg a gentle pat.

"Better?" Boo asked with a smile. The monster slowly raised his leg to look at the cuts. Several of the band-aids were too small to even cover the injured area, and his wounds continued to sizzle now and then from the remnants of the alcohol. He took a deep breath. "I could do without the kitty band-aids." But really, what else did he expect from a three year old doctor?

At that, the little girl let out a giggle. His frills flattened in annoyance.

Rather than say anything else to the kid, Randall turned sharply away from her. The sky had gone from ebony to a soft hue of purple, indicating daylight was coming and her relatives would wake up soon.

"Bed time," the three year old chirped at the lizard that was still trying so diligently to ignore her.

He scoffed. "Yeah, it was bed time for you hours ago, you little rat..." He jolted slightly when he felt something touch the back of his foot. Turning to look, he saw she had shoved several pieces of food in through the bars before hastily pattering back to that decomposing looking trailer in the distance.

He wanted to ignore it, but found it so much harder with his stomach literally collapsing in on itself, and knowing the girl was finally nowhere in sight.

He slithered towards the food; it smelled slightly stale, but it wasn't rotting away like the disgusting slabs of meat those humans kept slapping into his bowl. There was no detection of any sort of poison, and mentally he laughed at questioning intentional toxicity in food given to him by a three year old (of course, she could have spiked it with whiskey for all he knew). It was as fresh as it got—at least around this part of the country.

He slowly glanced back at the trailer, just in time to watch tiny brown pigtails disappear through the door inside. Then he gazed back at the food with a calm look, as content as someone could be in this situation. Quietly, he started nibbling on a cupcake.


	3. Chapter 3

_(This has been an absolute blast so far. I'm grateful for the reviews I've gotten so far, and I'm happy to know so many people like my writing. This fic is officially done, but I hope you're all eagerly awaiting "The Winds Of Change". Also, you can follow my Randall blog for fic peeks and art at thescalypurplemonster on tumblr._

_Here's a little insight of what's to come:_

_Immediately following the events of "Don't Bite The Hand That Feeds You", Randall has managed to find his way back to Monstropolis. What he gets is everything but a welcoming committee, but all that matters to the lizard is putting things back to the way they were. But he quickly realizes things are so much different now. The revolution of their energy crisis has been solved without him, and Waternoose is gone. To top it off, he's under strict probhation with little wiggle room to move. He wants nothing to do with the way the company works now, but it's either adapt to the new ways, or be banished once more. And it may depend on only one child to make either outcome happen._

_Also, a small shout out to my absolute favorite Randall fic on here called "Family" (I forget the author), but that's where I get most of my inspiration. It's the most well written fanfic I have ever seen in this fandom.)_

* * *

Boo awoke at half past seven to her aunt eagerly snapping up the blinds to her window, the light that poured in stinging her eyes.

"Git up, hon, I got a great surprise for ya! Yer cousin Louise is coming over fer a visit! She ain't much older than you, only six years old. Ah'm sure you'll both get along great!"

The three year old whimpered subtly, wanting anything than to play with anymore loud, crazy relatives. She'd much rather stay up in he bedroom and draw all day, until she could go visit Lizzy tonight. Actually, given she hadn't gone back home until the moon had gone to bed, she'd rather sleep.

"We thought we'd take y'all to see the purple lizard today!" _That _woke her up. "Been wantin' to' see it myself." She tried smiling reassuringly at the girl. "Don't worry, 'e's not very dangerous cooped up in there."

This crazy lady had no idea.

"Edith!" Uncle Ed shouted from downstairs, as a fist suddenly pounded on the front door. "Louise is here!"

Boo blinked as Edith gave a squeal of delight, suddenly grabbed her, and pulled the girl's jumper on inside out, and her shoes on the wrong feet. The toddler whined and tugged at the twisted straps all the way down the stairs.

Louise reminded Boo of her aunt, but a little cleaner. She had on a shaggy pair of overalls, and her red hair went down to her back in a single braid. She had so many freckles you couldn't even see her face if you tried. "Howdy! Ah'm Louise!" She grinned, and was missing a tooth. "Nice ta' meet ya! What's yer name?"

Still grappling with her mismatched shoes and uncomfortable straps, Boo puffed her chest out proudly and said, "Boo!" To her surprise, Louise didn't laugh at her like most of the other adults did. She just grinned back.

"Cool name!"

Boo's chocolate eyes brightened with shock and giddiness. She gave a happy babble of delight and took her new friend's hand, leading her into the living room to play. Louise happily obliged and followed her, accidentally stepping on several of Boo's drawings on the way. She gasped and hopped back. "Aw, gee, Ah'm sorry about that!"

Boo felt a flutter in her tummy as Louise slowly picked up a drawing of her Kitty. She bit her lower lip, just waiting for the six year old to start laughing and say she was crazy, or just adorable for having such an interesting imaginary friend—as her mother would put it.

"Wow!" Louise gasped. "This polka-dotted fuzzy guy kinda reminds me of the monster that visits me at night! Only he's orange mostly. He only has one horn on his head."

Anyone else in this household would have rolled their eyes or laugh and pinch Louise's cheeks. Boo, however gave a gasp of shock and turned to Louise. "Monster?"

"Yeah." Louise's cheek pressed against the top of her hand, as she thought fondly to the many nights her friend would visit her. "Aw, he's a swell friend too. Ya wouldn't think monsters would be so sweet, but this one is. He comes to mah room every night to make me laugh. Sometimes he just leaves as soon as he's got me a gigglin' mess, but I've gotten him to stay with me fer a bit."

Boo looked amazed by this.

"The thing with adults is they don't understand or believe there's such things as monsters. It's what they tell ya from the beginnin' of time, monster's don't exist. But they do. Ah've given up trying to make 'em believe—just as long as they don't make me switch rooms or somethin'. Ah don't wanna lose 'im."

"Kids!" Edith shouted from the porch. "Come on, we're gettin' ready ta' go now!"

* * *

It was the first time Randall had actually been fully coherent since he was captured. Apparently a new, spindly little worker that had forgotten to give him a light sedative before the people arrived was the reason for that. Interns...

He was fully alert by the time the crowds had arrived, and stayed on the ceiling when any of them came near. Disgusting creatures they were, even if many of the monsters now had a much different opinion on humans. His hadn't changed; if anything, his hatred for them had grown stronger at seeing what cruelties they were capable of. His opinion on the shrimp may have changed; she had gone from being toxic and disgusting to just plain annoying.

"Go on ahead Bobby, and take Boo and Louise to see the lizard."

His frills lifted in surprise. _Boo?_

Curiosity is what propelled him to scale down the back of the cage and slither to the bars. The first thing he saw was that same southern scum that had tried mangling him with a shovel a year ago. He hissed and swallowed back all the curses he wanted to snarl to the disgusting inbred, focusing instead on the familiar little toddler that was scuttling up to his bars. There was another kid with her.

"Wow, look at 'im, look at those scales! He sure is a weird gator!" Louise grinned. "He's got so many legs!"

The three year old looked up at him, and in habit, Randall snapped at her. "What are you doing here? Is bugging me all through the night just not enough for you now?" Instantly, he froze in fear when he realized what he did.

Thankfully, Bobby, the ever responsible babysitter was distracted talking to a woman over by the entrance, and most of the crowd was busy at the other exhibits. The only ones who had heard him was the shrimp and her little friend, whose mouth was currently on the ground.

"He can _talk! _Wow, is he ever cool!" Louise gushed. "He reminds me of my monster friend! You're so neat! Can I pet you and feed you popcorn?!"

Randall chose to ignore the rest of her question, gripping the bars tightly and staring wide eyed at her. "What did you say about monsters?"

"My pet monster!" Louise blabbed on. "He comes into my room every night, through mah closet! He's real funny looking—you remind me of him, even though he's a little cuter and you're a little uglier!" Randall scowled as Boo giggled.

"A closet? A monster visits you at night _through a closet?"_

"Are you hard of hearing or somethin'?"

"_Answer_ the question, kid!"

"Yeah, he visits through my closet every night! Sometimes he even leaves the door open and I've been tempted to go through it, but, Ah dunno, I've been scared."

The lizard couldn't believe it. It was what he had been waiting for for a year. It was like the message of a very strange looking, obnoxious angel. "Where do you live?"

Louise pointed past the trailer Boo had come from, to a yellow one just down the street. "See that trailer there? That's where I live—it's the trailer with the flamingo thing in front that got its head bitten off by my dog. You gonna come play sometime?"

"Yeah, sure," Randall muttered, not even listening to her as his eyes fixated on the trailer in the distance. Boo had her fist in her mouth, biting it nervously. She felt stuck. Randall was mean. He was mean, nasty, and dangerous. She wanted to help him, but she didn't know if he was friendly enough yet to go back home. She didn't want him to hurt her Kitty.

"Louise, Boo, come on now!" Edith called to the children. "We're goin' home!"

* * *

Randall was on his hind legs for the first time in a while, finally strong enough to stand on his own. The shrimp's alcohol-medicine worked pretty well, he'd begrudgingly give her that much. For the first time since he had been given sedatives daily, he was going to try and camouflage. His only hope of getting out rode on whether he could do it or not.

He shut his eyes tightly in concentration, and vanished. He gave a grin that couldn't be seen in the darkness, happier than he could remember being in a while. His body dissolved back into shape, just waiting. He saw a guard in the distance, doing checks around the lot. Quickly, he vanished. It didn't take long for the guard to notice that a giant purple lizard had gone missing from the cage.

"What the-" He fumbled frantically with his handheld radio and hissed into the speaker. "Johnny! Johhny, ya read? Ah think the purple gator's gone missin'!"

_"What?" _a muffled voice hissed back. _"Ya know the boss will kill us if that's true! Check the entire cage—I'll be out in a minute!"_

A large, eager grin snaked across the monster's face as the guard came near. His body poised, ready to bolt the moment the door opened. Adrenaline pumped through him with every rattle as the guard struggled to open the door. He peered up to see if the gator was somehow attached to the ceiling. That's when Randall bolted.

He leaped over the guard's head, his invisible tail slapping the man in the face as he did so. The guard whirled around and threw a punch. It hit Randall in the chest, and he became visible again. He gave him a roundhouse kick, and the man stumbled haphazardly into the cage with a loud clang. A frightened cry sounded from behind it.

Randall whirled around to see terrified, brown eyes staring at him. "Kid?"

A sudden beam of light blinded them both from the distance, illuminating the furious features on another guard's face. "Hey, you two!" he shouted gruffly. "STOP!"

Boo bounded to the purple monster and clung to his back before he could throw her off. The guard already started racing towards them.

The reptile sucked in a sharp breath, instinct taking over as he took off towards the woods. Multiple limbs thudded rapidly against the ground as Randall's serpentine body shot through the foliage. Leaves smacked against his face, the scent of wet earth filling his lungs- the shout of the guard running through the woods to follow and the blinding lights flashing in his eyes all contorting his senses. He muttered about his rotten luck, grunting occasionally as the girl's little fingers tightened on his frills.

"Ah! Watch it, shri- OW!" he growled, ducking under a branch, the light disappearing through the bushes, suddenly wrapping himself around a tree, twisting around it as he climbed up, up, and up.

Despite the fear of being captured and placed back in that heinous cell, Randall scowled as the kid squished herself up against him, rolling his eyes as the lights faded. There was a pause, listening for crunching leaves or snapping twigs- and the monster sighed, leaning against the tree to let his heart and limbs take a breather.

"Alright, alright," he hissed, nudging Boo's head away from his neck, groaning as she only snuggled tighter. "What is this, you forget how to let go? Give me some space, kid!"

"All gone?" Boo whispered, her brown eyes scanning the night. She could see the trailer from here—they hadn't gone far into the woods. She saw the guard searching, but luckily, Randall's camouflage kept them out of sight.

"Yeah, they're gone. Now loosen up, will you?!"

It took a few seconds, and a lot of prying, but Boo finally loosened up, sliding down from his neck to sit on his back instead. It was easier to keep a hold of, since most of his body was a giant c-shape.

Randall slowly scaled down the pine tree, nudging the girl off his back. He was confident he'd find his way, even through the forest. They hadn't gone far in—far enough to lose the guards, but not far enough to get lost. He could see both trailers from here, which meant both he and the kid could get home safely (not that he at all cared if something were to snap her up right now mind you).

He was already turning to leave, and Boo gave a hesitant babble, which caused him to turn his head to her. The three year old stood there, shuffling almost shyly on her feet. A pink blush lit up her pale cheeks as she pulled out a piece of paper from inside her footie pajamas. She wasn't sure why she was giving this to him—it wasn't as if he wouldn't just throw it to the ground and crumple it.

It was nearly pitch black in the forest, but there was still a faint beam of moonlight that dappled through the leaves and illuminated what was on the paper. It was a picture of him, he realized, and wondered just how much she drew him. As much as her _Kitty_, perhaps?

He was smiling in the drawing, and he wondered to himself when he ever let a smile slip in front of the child. Or perhaps this was just the way she was imagining him when he'd be happy again? He had no idea, and he honestly felt floored.

_Nobody _had ever made anything for him—not that he could remember anyway. He was more or less the person that just stayed in the shadow of someone else (Sullivan), watching as they were praised and given gifts and patted on the back. He never got that from anyone, because everyone hated him (and to be fair, he despised everyone as well). The only monster he knew that didn't totally hate his guts was Fungus, and even then, Fungus had never made anything for him. Nothing more than a cup of coffee maybe.

The toddler kept the drawing held up. It covered her face, and Randall couldn't see her expression. He could still see that hopeful lilt in her brown eyes though.

The guards would probably find them soon, but the reptile stayed there as a sudden level of awkwardness washed over him. He wasn't sure how to receive this, so he decided to eliminate himself from the problem completely. "I don't have _pockets_, Shrimp. And if I did, I'd rather carry something necessary to my survival than a picture."

She lowered it slowly to her side, disappointment clear in her face. Randall felt almost grateful for the flood of light that saved him from any more exchange with the girl. He vanished from sight and took off towards the trailers, as a guard gently grabbed Boo from behind.

"How the heck did you manage to get out here, kid? Let's get you home."

* * *

He watched with wide, utterly perplexed eyes as a familiar monster—one he had worked with in the company for years- stood there balancing on a beach ball and juggling tomatoes in his paws. Boo's little friend sat there in her bed just laughing and clapping. Randall couldn't even believe this atrociousness—he was gonna get fired for good. He only hoped this was somebody's idea of a joke, and that things weren't really being run this way. But with how things had been declining before he banished, he wouldn't be surprised if Waternoose's sanity had completely deteriorated.

His eyes darted to the door, which the idiot had carelessly left open. Of course that wasn't a big surprise. Children weren't toxic. For all he knew after the events of Boo, they probably hosted picnics and tea parties for the children.

He slithered on his belly low to the floor, using his stealth to make sure he didn't bump into any of Louise's toys.

He stood there on all limbs, looking out into the bright light, the entrance to home. They may have forgotten how to work the company, but he'd show them. He'd remind them.

Randall Boggs was back.

_**TBC...**_


End file.
